Title 58, Public Utilities, Services and Carriers

The Office of Regulatory Staff, under the provisions of this section, is hereby vested with the authority and jurisdiction to make inspections, audits, and examinations of the Public Service Authority pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 4, Title 58, relating to the electric rat…

(A) The Public Service Authority shall file for commission approval of a program for the competitive procurement of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from renewable energy facilities to meet needs for new generation resources identified by the Authority in its Integr…

(A) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "Unaffiliated communications service provider" means a "communications service provider", as defined under Section 58-9-3010(8), and including, but not limited to, electric cooperatives and their broadband af…

For purposes of this section: (A) "JBRC" means the Joint Bond Review Committee. (1) Prior to issuing any (1) bonds, (2) notes, or (3) other indebtedness, including any refinancing that does not achieve a savings in total debt service, the JBRC must approve, reject, or modify the …

(A) The Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee may request and the Authority must produce, in writing or by testimony at the request of the relevant committee, within thirty days of any request any or all of the following: (1) annual audited financial sta…

(A) The Public Service Authority has power to develop the Cooper River, the Santee River, and the Congaree River in this State, as instrumentalities of intrastate, interstate, and foreign commerce and navigation; to produce, distribute, and sell electric power; to acquire, treat,…

The following words and phrases as used in this article, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall have the following meanings: (1) The term "electrical utility" includes persons and corporations, their lessees, assignees, trustees, receivers or other s…

After July 9, 1973, the Public Service Authority shall have the right to provide electric service only to, and it shall have the right to serve: (1) Central Electric Power Cooperative, Inc., including: (a) all electric cooperatives that are members of Central Electric Power Coope…

Except as set forth in this article, the present service area of the Public Service Authority consists of the counties of Berkeley, Georgetown, and Horry; but the following described areas are not included in the Public Service Authority's present service area as defined herein: …

Each of the drawings referred to in Section 58-31-330 must be filed in the place provided by law for recording the real estate records of the county concerned, and a certified copy of each drawing must be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. Certified copies of the draw…

Distribution facilities belonging to another electrical utility which, after July 9, 1973, are located in the present service area of the Public Service Authority as defined in Section 58-31-330, shall be acquired by the Public Service Authority within two years of July 9, 1973 a…

In order to protect those subscribing to, purchasing or acquiring the notes, bonds, evidences of indebtedness or other obligations of the Public Service Authority, the State of South Carolina does hereby covenant and agree with any person, firm or corporation, the government of t…

The circuit court of this State shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any dispute arising under Sections 58-31-310 through 58-31-360.

The Public Service Authority shall annually report to the Office of Regulatory Staff in the same manner as electric cooperatives as to the rates charged by it.

Except as provided in Section 58-31-320(1), the Public Service Authority shall serve no new premises within the territory assigned by the Public Service Commission to any electric cooperative.

Any resolution authorizing any notes, bonds or other evidences of indebtedness, and any mortgage or trust indenture or other agreement entered into pursuant thereto, may, whether or not any such obligations are or are to be secured by mortgage, provide that in the event that (a) …

The Public Service Authority shall submit its annual budget to the House Ways and Means Committee to be printed as a regular part of the General Appropriation Act. The annual budget is submitted for information purposes only.

The authority granted in this article shall not repeal or modify other laws applicable to electric service within municipal corporate limits, and any provisions of this article inconsistent with other laws are not applicable within the municipal limits.

The Public Service Commission may not assign any portion of the present service area of the Public Service Authority to any electrical utility or electric cooperative and this service area must be exclusively served by the Public Service Authority unless otherwise agreed to by th…

Lines of the Public Service Authority in existence on July 1, 1984, which extend into the service areas of Berkeley Electric Cooperative, Santee Electric Cooperative, and Horry Electric Cooperative, and lines of those cooperatives which extend into the service area of the Public …

The Public Service Authority shall provide proper vegetation or other method of erosion control on any existing or future rights-of-way.

(A) Except as provided in subsection (B) of this section, the Public Service Authority must not interrupt electric service to any residential customer for nonpayment of a bill until twenty-five days have elapsed from the date of billing. (B) The Public Service Authority may inter…

The Public Service Authority may acquire by purchase, gift, condemnation, or in any other manner, any lands, waters, water rights, riparian rights, flowage rights, easements, licenses, franchises, engineering data, construction plans, or estimates prepared for the development of …

For purposes of this article: (1) "Licensed health care provider" means a licensed medical doctor, physician's assistant, nurse practitioner, or advanced-practice registered nurse. (2) "Special needs account customer" means the account of a residential customer: (a) when the cust…

(A) The Public Service Authority must establish written procedures for termination of service due to nonpayment for a special needs account customer at any time and for all residential customers during weather conditions marked by extremely cold or hot temperatures. The Public Se…

The Public Service Authority must consider establishing and maintaining a third-party notification program to allow a residential customer to designate a third party to be notified if the electric service is scheduled for termination.

Notwithstanding another provision of this article, the Public Service Authority may disconnect a customer when it is determined that a public safety emergency exists.

(A) A director shall discharge his duties as a director, including his duties as a member of a committee: (1) in good faith; (2) with the care an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar circumstances; and (3) in a manner he reasonably believes to…

This article does not create a new private right of action or a new duty of care. This article does not diminish, increase, affect, or evidence any duty of care existing under the laws of this State prior to the effective date of this article.

(A) A conflict of interest transaction is a transaction with the Public Service Authority in which a director of the Public Service Authority has a direct or indirect interest. A conflict of interest transaction is not voidable by the Public Service Authority solely because of th…

Wholesale and retail customers of the Public Service Authority and electric cooperatives that are indirect customers of the Public Service Authority may bring suit against Public Service Authority directors asserting a breach of any duty arising under Sections 58-31-55 and 58-31-…

The powers of the Public Service Authority shall be exercised by the board of directors, with the exception of such duties as this chapter shall impose upon the advisory board. A majority of the members of the board of directors shall constitute a quorum of the board for the purp…

The use of the facilities of the Public Service Authority and the operation of its business shall be subject to the rules and regulations from time to time adopted by the Public Service Authority; provided, however, that the Public Service Authority shall not be authorized to do …

The Public Service Authority, through its board of directors, shall adopt and publish pricing principles that respect and balance factors including, but not limited to, adherence to the Authority's mission to be a low-cost provider, reliability, transparency, preservation of the …

For purposes of this article "customer" shall include the Authority's residential, commercial and industrial retail customers, and those wholesale customers served pursuant to contractual arrangements, but excluding joint action agencies and those entities located outside the Sta…

Prior to creating or revising any of its board-approved retail rate schedules, the Public Service Authority, through resolution of its board of directors or otherwise, shall adopt a process that shall include the following: (A) The Authority shall provide notice to all customers …

The Authority shall submit to the Office of Regulatory Staff a pricing report each year, and its report must include an analysis of the adherence to the pricing principles required in Section 58-31-710, the current and projected electric customer pricing, a comparison of pricing …

The Public Service Authority is created primarily for the purpose of developing the Cooper River, the Santee River, the Congaree River, and their tributaries upstream to the confluence of the Broad and Saluda Rivers and upstream on the Wateree River to a point at or near Camden a…

Beginning with the tax year 1965, after the payment of all necessary operating expenses and all annual debt requirements on bonds, notes or other obligations at any time outstanding and the discharge of all obligations arising under finance agreements and indentures or other inst…

This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the "Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act".

(1) No person shall commence to construct a major utility facility without first having obtained a certificate issued with respect to such facility by the commission. The replacement of an existing facility with a like facility, as determined by the commission, shall not constitu…

(1) An applicant for a certificate shall file an application with the commission, in such form as the commission may prescribe. The application must contain the following information: (a) a description of the location and of the major utility facility to be built; (b) a summary o…

(1) Upon the receipt of an application complying with Section 58-33-120, the commission shall promptly fix a date for the commencement of a public hearing, not less than sixty nor more than ninety days after the receipt, and complete the hearing and issue an order on the merits w…

(1) The parties to a certification proceeding shall include: (a) the applicant; (b) the Office of Regulatory Staff, the Department of Environmental Services, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism; (c) each municipality and govern…

A record shall be made of any hearing and of all testimony taken and the cross-examination thereon. The commission may provide for the consolidation of the representation of parties having similar interests.

(1) The commission shall render a decision upon the record either granting or denying the application as filed, or granting it upon such terms, conditions or modifications of the construction, operation or maintenance of the major utility facility as the commission may deem appro…